Sessile Liquid Marbles with Embedded Hydrogels as Bioreactors for Three-Dimensional Cell Culture

Digital microfluidics based on liquid marble (LM) has recently emerged as a promising platform for liquid handling and cell-based assays. However, evaporation is a critical problem in such platforms, hindering their wide-range applications in various fields. This study aims to develop a functional sessile LM system for long-term 3D cell culture. Previously, this study group and others demonstrated that floating LM-based bioreactors could reduce the evaporation rate, and were thus suitable for growing multicellular spheroids. However, floating LMs are not robust and easily collapse. Herein, an evaporation-reducing sessile LM by embedding LM with agarose gel is proposed. Through a series of comprehensive mathematical modeling, numerical simulations, and experimental investigations (both with and without biological cells), it is shown that such a platform acts as a moisture absorption system to control the evaporation and thus extends the life span of LMs. It is also found that unlike pure LMs, the LMs filled with agarose maintain their spherical shapes within 72 h inside a humidified incubator. Moreover, the presence of agarose significantly contributes to minimizing evaporation and improves the viability of the harvested multicellular spheroids. These results can open up a new avenue in using LMs in life sciences and chemistry.

Automated summary

A functional sessile LM system for long-term 3D cell culture is developed by embedding LM with agarose gel to reduce evaporation. Comprehensive mathematical modeling, numerical simulations, and experimental investigations show that the platform acts as a moisture absorption system to control evaporation, extending the life span of LMs. The presence of agarose significantly contributes to minimizing evaporation and improving the viability of the harvested multicellular spheroids.